RIO DE JANEIRO — Swimming legend Michael Phelps said the honor of being the U.S. flag bearer was something that he could not pass up.
So he led the American team into Maracana Stadium on Friday for the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics. Once he had crossed the stadium floor, he secured the Stars and Stripes in a flag stand at one end of the stadium.
Rather than waiting with the rest of the flag bearers there, though, Phelps quickly left to be taken back to the athlete village by NBC. It's common for swimmers and other athletes who participate early in the Games to leave early or not march at all so they can rest ahead of competition.
Had he stayed, he would have been standing in the stadium for more than half of the expected 2-hour ceremony. The USA was the 70th country out of 207 introduced because its name in Portuguese — Estados Unidos da America — put it earlier in the parade than normal.
Phelps, 31, is competing in his fifth and final Olympics. He’s slated to compete in three individual events here.
Phelps is the only the second American swimmer to carry the flag, after Gary Hall in 1976 in Montreal.
His eight gold medals in Beijing in 2008 made history. Phelps was 15 when he made his first Olympic team in 2000, and he has competed in every Games since.
He retired after London before coming back for these Olympics. Asked if these were really his last Games, he jokingly said they should be called, “My potential last Olympics.”
